Germany’s Jewish Community Is Nervous About The Rise Of Populist AfD Party
Michael Gottschalk / AFP via Getty Images
By Tobias Lill 09/02/2016 10:39 am ET
Opinion polls suggest that the populist Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, will shine in the upcoming state elections - in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Sept. 4 and in Berlin two weeks later - which is provoking anxiety among members of Germany’s Muslim and Jewish communities.
The AfD was founded in 2013 as a hardline Eurosceptic party, but has now shifted towards an anti-immigration agenda. Its popularity has soared in recent months, in tandem with growing security concerns and agitation over the integration of the more than 1 million - mostly Muslim - migrants that have arrived in Germany last year.
Earlier this year, AfD approved a manifesto that states “Islam is not a part of Germany,” and proposes a ban on the call to prayer and face veils in public places.
Muslims, however, are not the only group threatened by the rise of the populist party.
“The Jewish community in Germany is following the rise of the AfD with concern,” Josef Schuster, president of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, told HuffPost Germany. “They’re spreading fear and prejudice, thereby endangering the cohesion of our society.”
In addition to exhibiting “serious intolerance for Muslims and other minorities in our country,” Schuster says, the party’s platform is “against Jewish life.”
AfD’s draft manifesto published on April 30, 2016, referred to the circumcision of boys as “serious violations of fundamental rights,” a position that Israeli daily Haaretz said is “easily viewed as targeting the Jewish community [ http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/1.708756 ].”
“The AfD even accepts anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers among their ranks,” Schuster said.
Anti-Semitism expert Jan Riebe agrees. He told HuffPost Germany in June that there is a “wide anti-Semitic streak inside the party.”
Statements made by AfD representative Wolfgang Gedeon in a 2012 book caused a row within the party earlier this year. Gedeon suggested that Holocaust denial was legitimate, and referred to the Holocaust as “certain misdeeds [ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36722818 ].”
In addition to Schuster, other members of Germany’s Jewish community have expressed concern over the growing popularity of AfD.
“As early as this coming weekend’s election, radical right-wing parties could suddenly find themselves moving into the state parliament of at least two different federal states - and with horrifying numbers,” Charlotte Knobloch, former president of the Central Council of Jews, wrote on her Facebook page [ https://www.facebook.com/ChKnobloch/posts/1290039211049061 ]. “This could profoundly alter the power structure not only of the two affected states but of the entire Federal Republic.”
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Clinton continues to eat Republicans’ lunch on foreign policy
Hillary Clinton gestures while speaking during the American Legion National Convention at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati on Wednesday. (Ty Wright/Bloomberg News)
By Jennifer Rubin September 1, 2016
While Donald Trump sends millions of Americans fleeing the GOP, Hillary Clinton scoops up more endorsements of the type Republican nominees usually enjoy. The Clinton camp announced endorsements from two retired four-star generals, Bob Sennewald (former commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command) and David Maddox (former commander in chief of the U.S. Army in Europe). In a joint statement they said, “Having each served over 34 years and retired as an Army 4-star general, we each have worked closely with America’s strongest allies, both in NATO and throughout Asia.” They explained, “Our votes have always been private, and neither of us has ever previously lent his name or voice to a presidential candidate.” They nevertheless announced, “Having studied what is at stake for this country and the alternatives we have now, we see only one viable leader, and will be voting this November for Secretary Hillary Clinton.”
The endorsements follow Clinton’s hawkish speech at the American Legion yesterday and Trump’s confusing and meek appearance in Mexico. As to the latter, former Mexican president Vicente Fox chided Trump [ https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/771313029149360128 ], “He comes to Mexico, he plays a totally different music, very diplomatic. … And he comes back to the states and then he comes back to his now very old message.” He added, “We are not going to pay for that F wall. … It’s a crazy idea. … No way Mexico is going to pay for it.” Trump seems not to understand that one cannot say something to a foreign leader in the morning, something totally different a few hours later and expect not to cause a diplomatic flap.
Trump’s behavior in his sole trip to meet a head of state — even his spokesman’s statement suggested [ http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-meets-mexican-president-skips-border-wall-negotiations-n640856 ] that Trump was misleading about whether payment of the wall was raised — only underscored Clinton’s point. “You don’t build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. You do it by putting in the slow, hard work of building relationships,” she cautioned yesterday. “Getting countries working together was my job every day as your secretary of state. It’s more than a photo op. It takes consistency and reliability.” She was slightly off in one regard when she said: “People have to get to know that they can count on you; that you won’t say one thing one day and something totally different the next.” Actually, with Trump, it was only a matter of hours and a short plane trip before he showed his true colors.
Likewise, when Trump declares, as he did in Arizona last night, that it was a mistake to take refugees from two allied countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, and insists on “extreme vetting” of Muslim applicants, including quizzing them on their views on “respect for women and gays and minorities” (a test many think Trump would fail), he once again risks inflaming the very Muslim allies we need to defeat the Islamic State. He also manages to offend loyal American Muslims whose cooperation law enforcement relies upon to detect lone wolves and groups of plotters.
Judging from her latest ad, Clinton will continue pounding away at the theme that Trump himself is a risk to American security and standing in the world — someone who enrages and confuses allies and denigrates our military [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLwcP1z8L1Y (next below, as embedded; comments disabled)]:
So far, a slew of former military and civilian foreign-policy gurus who would normally be advising the Republican nominee are now signing on with Clinton. Whether that translates into actual votes remains an open question. Nevertheless, with only 79 percent of Republicans supporting him, according to the latest Fox News poll [ http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2016/08/31/fox-news-poll-aug-31-2016/ ], it does appear that an unusually high percentage of Republicans cannot bring themselves to vote for Trump. Each vote taken out of Trump’s column moves Clinton one step closer to the White House, and if she can actually get those Republicans — enthusiastically or not — to cast votes for her, she will go a long way toward running up the electoral vote score in November.
Top Jeb Bush donor Mike Fernandez said Hillary Clinton’s intelligence, experience and humility balance out her shortcomings. POLITICO Screen grab
By Nolan D. McCaskill 09/01/16 09:46 AM EDT
Donald Trump is unqualified for the presidency, Mike Fernandez, a top Jeb Bush and Rick Scott donor, said Thursday, announcing that he’ll be voting across party lines for Hillary Clinton in November.
Fernandez identified himself as “a firm believer in the fundamental tenets of the Republican Party” and as someone who takes his civic responsibilities seriously before slamming the GOP’s standard-bearer.
Republicans can no longer “seek solace in wishful thinking or the illusion that this is just an election cycle and that by divine intervention all will be better after we vote” or “hide behind the excuse that party loyalty is paramount, and that a bad candidate of our own is always better than any candidate of theirs,” he cautioned, warning that Trump is capable of single-handedly leading America “off the precipice.”
“I have watched this election unfold, from that first press conference where the population of an entire country was cast as insulting to our core. This led to a neverending spiral of vulgarity, intellectual dishonesty, invective, abuse, misogyny, racism, intolerance, bullying, ignorance and downright cruelty,” he said. “The fact that the person unleashing these forces, reflecting beliefs and biases that we had long ago identified as at odds with the Founding Fathers’ principle of ordered liberty was a member of my party, was at first cause for irritation evolving into alarm and frustration and finally arriving at a sobering moment of embarrassment for my party, and beyond that, of profound concern for my beloved country.”
Fernandez ripped Trump for his antagonizing rhetoric, calling his claims of a rigged system should he lose to Clinton “insanity and dictatorial machinations at best” and characterizing Trump as an “abysmally unfit candidate who has unleashed “racist and violent acts.”
“I harbor no illusion that Hillary Clinton is perfect; none of us is,” he continued. “I do not see eye to eye on some issues with the former senator from New York. However, Clinton is, without a doubt, a superior choice to Donald Trump.”
Clinton’s intelligence, experience and humility balance out her shortcomings and will serve her well in the White House, Fernandez said, noting that he is “equally convinced that our republic will be placed in fundamental peril if we are foolish enough to elect” Trump.
“And so my fellow Republicans, swallow hard, look into your heart — and your gut,” he added. “Vote for Hillary Clinton and then every single Republican on the ticket.”
Fernandez, who fled Cuba in the 1960s before making his fortune in the health-care industry, has been supportive [ http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article36628830.html ] of President Barack Obama's overtures to the Cuban regime. In 2012, he donated more than $1 million to a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney.
In truth, Trump has actually attracted a broad range of endorsements that perhaps haven’t received adequate attention.
For example, from terrorists.
“I ask Allah to deliver America to Trump,” a supporter of the Islamic State declared recently in an Arabic-language posting. Foreign Affairs quotes [ https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2016-08-24/why-isis-rooting-trump-0 ] jihadists explaining that Trump would say and do such crazy things that he would end up helping extremist groups.
Of course, Trump has been endorsed not only by terrorists, but also by nation states. “Trump is not the rough-talking, screwy, ignorant candidate they say he is, but is actually a wise politician,” a columnist wrote [ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-trump-idUSKCN0YN35S ] in a North Korean propaganda magazine, DPRK Today.
Likewise, many Chinese leaders would like to see a Trump victory, according to Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution. The Chinese leaders apparently think Trump would manage allies and American foreign policy poorly, thus reducing American influence and creating space for China [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/china/index.html ].
Likewise, Trump has the backing not only of the Republican Party [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html ] but also of the American Freedom Party, a white nationalist organization. “Donald Trump’s campaign may help remind Americans that all genocide, even against white people, is evil,” said Bob Whitaker, who until spring was the American Freedom Party’s presidential candidate, running with the campaign slogan, “Diversity is a code word for white genocide.”
The American Nazi Party’s position is a bit more complicated. Rocky Suhayda, the party chairman, has predicted [ https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/american-nazi-chair-a-trump-win-would-be-a-real-opportunity ] that Trump will win and that this will provide “a real opportunity for people like white nationalists.” But, apparently worried that Nazi support for Trump might be counterproductive, he denied reports that on his radio show he had actually endorsed Trump.
“Recently, the jews-media gave the Party international coverage over our last ANP radio show, where they ‘claimed’ that I ‘endorsed’ Donald Trump, in another effort to ‘SMEAR’ the man,” Suhayda wrote [ http://www.anp14.com/news/index.php ] on the Nazi Party website. “It was a typical kosher BIG LIE, as exposed and explained in Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf — whereas they ‘CLAIM’ that Mr. Evil Nazi (me) has embraced Donald Trump for President, hence Mr. Trump and myself are joined at the hip, being clones of Little Hitlerites.”
So maybe Trump doesn’t have the Nazi endorsement sewn up after all.
He does have the backing of other prominent figures. Among them: Martin Shkreli [ https://twitter.com/martinshkreli/status/756311253056909312 ], who as C.E.O. of Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a lifesaving drug by more than 5,000 percent; Milo Yiannopoulos, recently banned [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/technology/twitter-bars-milo-yiannopoulos-in-crackdown-on-abusive-comments.html ] from Twitter for leading internet trolls on a misogynist and racist campaign against Leslie Jones, the comedian and actress; and Alex Jones, the talk show host who has said that the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked and that no children were actually injured in the Sandy Hook school shooting.
O.K., O.K., it’s also true that Trump has support of tens of millions of Americans, including (sometimes grudgingly) leading Republicans, like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and John McCain. Yet one element that makes this election stunning is how many prominent Republicans have refused to endorse their nominee, while some have denounced [ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/opinion/what-republicans-really-think-about-trump.html ] him as a “madman” and “bigot” who has no more “core principles than a Kardashian marriage.”
But perhaps what’s even more illuminating is the crowd that is endorsing Trump.
On this Thursday, September 1 broadcast of the Alex Jones Show, we break down Donald Trump's historic trip to Mexico to meet and speak with the Mexican president. Master hypnotist and creator of the popular comic strip series Dilbert Scott Adams joins the show today to discuss his prediction that Trump will win by a landslide in November. Also, activist Lauren Southern breaks down her recent interaction with a social justice warrior who attempted to take down her Youtube channel. On today's show, we also welcome black Republican R.W. Bray, who discusses the lies of the Democrat party and ways Trump can reach out to the African American community.
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Life-long Clinton attacker hired to be Trump's Clinton attacker
The Rachel Maddow Show 9/2/16
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Did Trump's campaign manager lie to Rachel Maddow's face?
The Rachel Maddow Show 9/2/16
Rachel Maddow replays Donald Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway's recent answer about the lack of any role by Roger Ailes in the Trump campaign, and then points out several new reports that show Ailes advising the campaign in one case with Conway present. Duration: 5:35
Trump Pays Penalty For Ethically Questionable Political Donation Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks before the arrival of Donald Trump at a campaign event in Daytona, Florida, Aug. 3, 2016. The donation came as Florida’s attorney general was considering joining a lawsuit against Trump’s for-profit school. 09/01/2016 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-university-donation-pam-bondi_us_57c8806ce4b078581f11f759 [with comments]
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Trump Modeling Agency: A Couple Things
Published on Aug 31, 2016 by Late Night with Seth Meyers
Tell-It-Like-It-Is Trump Becomes Teleprompter Donald Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he reads from a teleprompter during a speech in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, July 11, 2016. [ http://wtop.com/elections/2016/07/to-democrats-must-see-tv-is-trump-mocking-disabled-reporter/ ] The GOP nominee is now using the machine he used to scorn, except really badly.
Arizona GOP defends wanted poster of Democrat Kirkpatrick John McCain and Ann Kirkpatrick Sep. 2, 2016 PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Republican Party on Friday defended its release of an Old West style wanted poster criticizing Democratic U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in her campaign for the Senate, after Democrats said the poster depicted bullet holes that are inappropriate and disturbing. Kirkpatrick's campaign called the poster a "tasteless and ignorant stunt." State Republican Party spokesman Matt Specht called the criticism an attempt to distract from the poster's message that Kirkpatrick avoids public appearances in which she might be asked tough questions. Kirkpatrick's campaign and former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords in separate statements said the poster's bullet holes amounted to inappropriate imagery related to violence. Giffords, a Democrat, left Congress after she was gravely wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt. "There is absolutely no place for this disturbing imagery in Arizona politics," Kirkpatrick campaign manager Max Cross said. Specht in a telephone interview Friday said that round splotches on the poster Kirkpatrick labeled as bullet holes were intended at conveying a weathered image of the Old West. "They could be just holes, whether it was something that was nailed to a tree or wall," he said. Later Friday, Kirkpatrick's campaign took issue with Specht's comments as reported by The Associated Press, providing a web link to what spokesman D.B. Mitchell said appeared to be the template for the poster. The template included a description of "old and dirty paper with bullet holes." The state Republican Party displayed the poster Thursday on the party's website ( http://az.gop/ ) and posted it on Twitter. [...] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/43cfc8825d1f4a889122a843de6a2c2c/arizona-gop-defends-wanted-poster-democrat-kirkpatrick
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